What’s More The Kid Was Armed With A Pack Of Skittles*


ABOVE: Dan McLaughlin**

Shorter Dan McLaughlin, Red White State:
Trayvon Martin and Perspective

    • I don’t see the big deal about some spic shooting some nigger, since spic drug dealers shoot white people every day and no one starts petition drives or demonstrates in the street or spills newspaper ink or spends broadcast time on it. Actually all this moaning about some dead pickaninny is just a cynical effort to stoke black racism against whites and get that Negro Obama re-elected.
  • *Cf.
    **More on Dan here.


    ‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™


     

    Comments: 240

     
     
     

    Sorry to be a pedant but your racial epithets are all over the place, spelling-wise.
    I’m just going to assume that the shorter is spot on.

     
     

    Ok, couldn’t help myself, he actually brings in Operation Fast and Furious!…oooh there’s more!!! he somehow ties in abortion!

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    How anyone can say ‘what’s the big deal?’ with this tragedy is utterly incomprehensible to me. That someone can chase down and then gun down a fleeing unarmed teenager and not be charged with murder 1 makes me want to scream. That the police department has not arrested his murderer yet and and views the whole thing as an embarrassing mix up makes me want to riot. I hope the local police shape up and charge the shooter and throw the book at him, or if they don’t, that the feds take over, throw the book at the shooter, and throw the book at the entire police department for whatever they can- up to and including being an accessory to murder.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    If we can get get those bastard lawyers for the NRA who came up with this bastard ‘shoot first and never ask questions’ version of self defense that Florida passed in to law as being an accessory to murder, that’s ok with me too.

     
     

    The secret to shooting black people in Florida? No witnesses.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    The secret to shooting black people in Florida? No witnesses.

    No that’s the secret to shooting people period.

     
     

    No that’s the secret to shooting people period.

    I dunno, I don’t think Aileen Wuornos would get off the hook even now.

     
     

    No that’s the secret to shooting people period.

    But if they find you standing over the body of a white person with a smoking gun and covered with the white persons blood you’re going to jail. Even without witnesses. Apparently, not so much if you’re standing over the body of a black person.

     
     

    Respectfully, I think a better shorter would be:

    Fox News’ avoidance of George Zimmerman (the liberal media’s new Willie Horton to help re-elect the Negro Obama) is fair and balanced by their being the only news group helping us to hype Fast and Furious.

     
     

    The nerve of that kid, walking on the white man’s sidewalk, breathing all the white man’s air!

     
     

    Fox News’ avoidance of George Zimmerman (the liberal media’s new Willie Horton to help re-elect the Negro Obama) is fair and balanced by their being the only news group helping us to hype Fast and Furious. to spend two years covering the Natalie Holloway story.

     
     

    Racists can’t spell, kg.

     
     

    and another thing, don’t get me started on that Nabisco Corporation throwing around those racial epithets. It’s always “Cracker” this and “Cracker” that. Fuckin’ racist cracker companies.

     
     

    he actually brings in Operation Fast and Furious!

    You mean that thing that started during the Bush administration?

     
     

    OK. I’ll try this in the shiny new thread.

    I put this in the last one, not knowing this was up. Story of my life.

    So, yeesh. Against all better judgement, I went a-lookin’ for the source of one of our pastatroll’s bits of clip”art” from last thread two threads ago.

    And found a wellspring.

    I’m not sure what is worst about this particular steamer. The sheer verbosity of it? I haven’t made it all the way through yet. The tilting at strawliberals? Perhaps. The complete and utter misunderstanding of almost every concept he tries to discuss? Definitely in the hunt. The projection? Ah, that might do it.

    My favorite bit might be in the comments, where a bunch of pseudointellectuals rail against the intellectualigentsia. Fucking amazing. Might be worth mining for wingnut of the month.

     
     

    It’s not like that Zimmerman guy called Callista Gingrich white or anything. That’s real racism amirite?

     
     

    that the feds take over

    The FBI did announce they were going to investigate, so this may happen.

     
     

    Always. Trust. The. Shorter.™

    He was killed for Skittling While Black.

     
     

    The FBI did announce they were going to investigate, so this may happen.

    Wasn’t a grand jury announced, also?

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    I’m not sure what is worst about this particular steamer. The sheer verbosity of it? I haven’t made it all the way through yet. The tilting at strawliberals? Perhaps. The complete and utter misunderstanding of almost every concept he tries to discuss? Definitely in the hunt. The projection? Ah, that might do it.

    What about the insufferable pretentiousness of that entitled sonofabitch? I couldn’t make it more than a few paragraphs though that verbose swill, but there’s one stuffed shirt that seems to think condescension, willful ignorance, racism, and paranoia sound sweeter when dipped in five syllable words. Seriously, if his point is ‘exterminate the brutes!’ he doesn’t need to dress up his words for the crowd that will respond to that message.

     
     

    Yes, it is getting sent to the Grand Jury. I guess that’s a bigger deal than I thought, I thought Grand Juries were par for the course with the bigger crimes but apparently not.

     
     

    I liked the easy dismissal of PC aka “cultural Marxism” because it reduces “all human history into a single factor[power struggles]” by a guy who thinks the single factor is GOD instead.

     
     

    How anyone can say ‘what’s the big deal?’ with this tragedy is utterly incomprehensible to me.

    Oh, they’ve been saying things like that for a loooong time. When civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo was murdered by Mississippi rednecks, William F. Buckley Jr. responded–exact quote–“Why was a dog-bites-man story so heavily emphasized?” His “reasoning” was that those damn nigger-lovers had been warned to stay out of the Deep South, so no one should have been surprised when some good ol’ boys actually went ahead and killed one of them.

    That makes at least as much sense as this guy thinking that “what about the Mexican cartel murders?” is some sort of logical response.

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    George Zimmerman is a spic?!? Whoda thunk?

    I am astonished at the Popo’s reaction, “well he SAID it was in self defense so who are we to second guess just because there’s a dead nigger?”. Florida’s stand your ground law, or whatever it’s called, would seem to be open season on nigger killin. Who doubts that a rash of similar “acts of self defense” are imminent? Anyone? Bueller?

     
     

    Who doubts that a rash of similar “acts of self defense” are imminent? Anyone? Bueller?

    Don’t forget to leave the Skittles on the corpse.

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Meanwhile, some enema nozzle has something to say about the DOJ trying to to do something about bullying.

    “This is not a situation in which, if the federal government doesn’t go in, nobody can do anything and people are going to die or anything like that,” Clegg said. “There are state and local governments in addition to the schools that can get involved. I don’t find this to be a really difficult issue.”

    I know, no kids ever killed themselves from being bullied. Ever. And the local officials in Hennepin county MN (I think that’s the place – 1l2n’s district) have shown how completely effective they are in dealing with it.

    I’d provide links but the iPad is a bitch for doing that sort of thing.

    Gawdam they really don’t care if it’s gays or blacks or anyone else dying. It literally turns my stomach.

     
     

    It’s not like that Zimmerman guy called Callista Gingrich white or anything. That’s real racism amirite?

    Callista makes Peggington Noonington look Hispanic.
    ~

     
     

    I don’t see the big deal about some spic shooting some nigger, since spic drug dealers shoot white people every day and no one starts petition drives or demonstrates in the street or spills newspaper ink or spends broadcast time on it.

    That’s because when spics shoot white people, nobody needs to worry about the guy being treated with kid gloves or let off under some bullshit “self-defense” rule.

    The reverse is not true.

     
     

    Hearing the 9/11 calls with the kid screaming “Help! Help!” just before George busts a cap in him kinda makes me doubious of the whole ‘self-defense’ thing. This ain’t ‘stand your ground’, this is ‘get your ground up in someone else’s grill’.

     
     

    Oh, they’ve been saying things like that for a loooong time. When civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo was murdered by Mississippi rednecks, William F. Buckley Jr. responded–exact quote–”Why was a dog-bites-man story so heavily emphasized?” His “reasoning” was that those damn nigger-lovers had been warned to stay out of the Deep South, so no one should have been surprised when some good ol’ boys actually went ahead and killed one of them.

    By coincidence, I finally watched “Mississippi Burning” last night. Good movie, ugly topic, made even uglier by the fact that in real life, the FBI guys supposedly weren’t nearly as interested in protecting people’s civil rights as they were in the film. But this recent shooting was in the back of my mind the entire time I was watching.

     
     

    Not to mention that coming up with a ‘reasonable Floridian’ should have delayed the implementation of the law for years, if not decades….

     
     

    If I shot somebody every time I felt scared there’d be a pretty high body count.

     
     

    I liked the easy dismissal of PC

    I was struck by the idea that “PC” is some sort of great overweaning principle that every liberal has surgically installed in their skull at birth and spends their whole life furthering beyond any other consideration.

    Of course, any efforts on the part of Conservatives to alter the socio-political landscape to embrace the blast-fax-of-the-day declaring our continuing War on East Asia is all for the good.

    Also, too: the ranting about how telling someone to get over themselves regarding other people’s consentual roleplay during sex is like FiftymillionHitlers, but rape is, eh, whatever.

    Twuntiness of the first degree.

     
     

    If I shot somebody every time I felt scared there’d be a pretty high body count.

    Now you can DO IT! Hooray!

     
     

    meh.

    “ween”

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    ween

    This thread needed more PENIS.

     
     

    meh.

    “ween”

    PLEH! PLEH!

     
     

    “To date, Zimmerman has not been arrested, but after a media outcry, local and federal grand jury investigations have been opened.”–McLaughlin

    Yes, AFTER an outcry. And there’s been no arrest, so the outcry continues. Not because of the media, but because decent people are incensed. Not being new to this planet, we know that Zimmerman could and should have been arrested at once and held until trial.

    McLaughlin’s laundry list of violent crimes does not include any that share the salient features of the Trayvon Martin case. McLaughlin really seems to think these features consist of (1) violence and (2) ethnic-type persons. Maybe (3) the crimes are not solved. But re: the latter, McLaughlin has failed to find violent race-y crimes in which the chief suspect is known, his alibi is incredibly absurd, and he walks free because there is a hypothetical (not even miniscule) chance he is lying.

     
     

    We’ve dealt with that John C. Wright wanker before, in comments at least.

    “Musings, Reasonings, Fancies, Drollery and Apologetics from honorary Houyhnhnm and Science Fiction Writer John C. Wright”

    Fucker thinks he’s thoughtful and droll. Who made him an honorary Houyhnhnm? Swift is turning in his grave. His fingernails are still growing and each one has more brainpower than this pseudoliterary turd-Wright.

     
     

    The pathology is gorging on itself. It’s horror incarnate. It’s armed madness.

     
     

    The Trayvon Martin case hits home for me because I had a family member murdered recently. The killer claimed self-defense, and initially was free and not charged with any crime. But that claim was spurious on the face of it (the victim was killed while asleep). Those of us who wanted an arrest and a trial had to raise a ruckus awhile, but we won. The killer is now being held until trial. It turns out charges COULD be brought.

    There was no national outcry, but I don’t begrudge the one surrounding Trayvon’s murder. My priorities would hafta be pretty fucked up to care that folks are rallying to this cause, and not my family’s. All we wanted was an arrest and a trial. We did not try to go national, and nobody did it for us.

    Returning to McLaughlin’s claim that the flurry around Trayvon’s murder benefits liberals: any such benefit can be quickly stemmed. Bring some charges against the dude and arrest him. Easy peasy. Or cons can stand their ground on this one and bitch about how it’ll help Obama win in 2012.

    Goddamnit I should be practicing.

     
     

    What gets me is the interpretation of this “stand your ground” law, where you can basically shoot someone if you FEEL threatened. It seems as if you can even follow someone and be the aggressor in a given confrontation, and then just shoot the person in “self-defense.”
    By the way, I am not at all happy (or surprised) that my state is on the list.

     
     

    Leave the gun. Take the Skittles.

     
     

    Now after reading the shorter, I’m not sure I can read this or I’m going to get mad.

     
     

    I hate these people so much.

     
     

    Charles Bronson just called. He wants his signature move back.

     
     

    Now bear in mind that the very people pushing a “national conversation” on George Zimmerman are not always so concerned that the media give a full and fair accounting of our criminal justice system’s fairness to victims of crimes. They are still complaining, a quarter century later, that the Massachusetts prison furlough program became an issue in the 1988 presidential election, and that a few obscure local ads even mentioned one particular graphic crime, committed by an inmate named Willie Horton. Somehow, even though it directly involved the judgment of a presidential candidate, that was not deemed fit for discussion.

    Gee, I seem to recall Willie Horton’s name on the fucking news an awful lot.

     
     

    By coincidence, I finally watched “Mississippi Burning” last night. Good movie, ugly topic, made even uglier by the fact that in real life, the FBI guys supposedly weren’t nearly as interested in protecting people’s civil rights as they were in the film.

    They were mostly interested in harassing, wiretapping and planting listening devices around Martin Luther King Jr. That movie is a disgusting piece of shit, and Gene Hackman, one of my favorite actors, should be ashamed of himself.

     
     

    Digby has a selection of the comments from Fox.com for those with iron stomachs.

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Digby has a selection of the comments from Fox.com for those with iron stomachs.

    It’s not whether my GI tract is ferrous, I won’t go because I would become enraged, destroy things and possibly hurt people. And I would feel good doing it.

     
     

    The fact is, liberal bias and PC are rampent here. The Consitution did not outlaw God, only liberals do. Blacks are violent, so are hispanics. Christisnas are presecuted today by liberals. God has jugement for USA coming because liberals taking over with bias, read the Consitionion, study economics and the free market. And God.

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    For some reason we are watching Rachel Maddow which we rarely do. Not just Maddow, we hardly ever watch teevee unless it’s something on the DVR (usually Walking Dead or Grimm – hey, it’s fun for us to “location spot”). She did a great segment on the totally whack GØP nominating process. Wish I had made popcorn. May have to watch more Rachel.

     
     

    Hey, Pup has ferrets in his GI Joe!

     
     

    See, if only that darkie had been a FETUS—- THEN we would’ve given a shit!

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Hey, Pup has ferrets in his GI Joe Richard Gere!

    For verisimilitude.

     
     

    NPR did a piece on Sheldon Adelson this morning. He’s a philanthropist. But he’s given tens of millions to conservative causes, namely and recently Gingrich.

    What’s rich is that he refused to be interviewed unless NPR took politics off the table. He will “speak” (give money) about politics, but he won’t speak about politics. A profile in courage!

     
     

    For verisimilitude.

    What’s pasta got to do with it?

     
     

    I say we let God go and throw that Florida guy in jail.

     
     

    The fact is, liberals were outraged by high gas prices in 2008, but not now. Is this because the Socialist Hitler did it, therefore it is good? Liebrals make me want to vomit.

     
     

    Ginger will help with that nausea, Gare-bear. Probably help with your gas, too.

     
     

    No love for Mary-Ann?

     
     

    Gah. Earlier I assumed that, notwithstanding Florida’s crazy laws, Zimmerman coulda been arrested on a murder charge. Now I see that’s not necessarily the case (Mother Jones via Digby):

    “Many readers have asked whether, given the 911 recordings, a case against Zimmerman would be easier than most homicides in which “self-defense” is cited by a defendant. In Florida, the answer probably is no: The courts’ interpretation of the stand-your-ground law has been extremely broad—so broad that, to win an acquittal, a defendant doesn’t even have to prove self-defense, only argue for it, while to win a conviction the prosecution has to prove that self-defense was impossible.

    Numerous cases have set the precedent in Florida, with the courts arguing that the law “does not require defendant to prove self-defense to any standard measuring assurance of truth, exigency, near certainty, or even mere probability; defendant’s only burden is to offer facts from which his resort to force could have been reasonable.” When a defendant claims self-defense, “the State has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense.” In other words the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt never shifts from the prosecution, so it’s surprisingly easy to evade prosecution by claiming self-defense.

    This has led to some stunning verdicts in the state. In Tallahassee in 2008, two rival gangs engaged in a neighborhood shootout, and a 15-year-old African American male was killed in the crossfire. The three defendants all either were acquitted or had their cases dismissed, because the defense successfully argued they were defending themselves under the “stand your ground” law. The state attorney in Tallahassee, Willie Meggs, was beside himself. “Basically this law has put us in the posture that our citizens can go out into the streets and have a gun fight and the dead person is buried and the survivor of the gun fight is immune from prosecution,” he said at the time.”

    Fucking amazing. There is no limit to the gun fetish. And these people are worried about radicals taking over.

     
     

    Illinois went for Romney. Oh well. My home state always had a lingering streak of sanity (even though we keep electing crooks).

    Little Ricky is speechifying right now about teleprompters and climate change. How utterly fucking predictable.

     
     

    Years ago I had a conversation with my Dad about how liberal-conservative politics seem to pendulum back and forth. This was in the 70s (I was in High School) and I recall wondering what it would be like when the pendulum swung into the conservative area.

    Now what I’m wondering is “is it DONE yet? or is it going to swing even further into insanity and hatred before slowly returning to sense?” Whenever we think it can’t get worse, I remember that for most of the history of humanity the majority of people have lived in abject, starvation-level poverty with a tiny “aristocracy” sitting at the top of the pyramid being supported by the rest. Are we returning to that way of life?

     
     

    I won’t go because I would become enraged, destroy things and possibly hurt people.

    Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

     
     

    Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

    Don’t read Digby’s mangoes.

     
    Quaker in a Basement
     

    Trevor Dooley, who lives barely 100 miles away from Sanford, shot and killed David James in 2010. He was arrested within three days and charged with manslaughter. Prosecutors are seeking jail time, but Dooley is advancing a Stand Your Ground claim in an attempt to get the charges dismissed.

    Guess who was white and who was black this time.

     
     

    Don’t read Digby’s mangoes.

    Too late.

     
     

    GH thats awful. Sorry about your family member.

     
     

    Jesus, Golem Heart. Once again I have to believe we as a species are fucked.

     
     

    BS, I can’t wait to see whoever wins the New 8th district to anhilate Joe “scumbag” Walsh.

     
     

    Thanks, kg.

    Poor rural whites do not always enjoy an effective justice system, let’s say. (I am not poor and rural, but I have family that is, extremely so.)

    It makes me bone-weary to know that too many poor whites view this Trayvon Martin killing and the attention it’s getting in all the wrong ways. I don’t hafta enumerate those ways; we can all see for ourselves.

    I have resolved not to discuss a bunch of details, but let me preach to the choir for a moment and say that collecting guns and packing 24/7 will not necessarily save you from a violent death. Nor martial arts expertise. The key just might be a different type of society.

     
     

    kg, from your lips to God’s (and the voters’) ears.

     
     

    btw, don’t forget he had iced tea on him. motherfucking iced tea.

     
     

    The whole thing is a truly awful situation yet it will not change anything in your society. The Gun Lobby will spout the usual nonsense and then push for even more availability. A gun buried every 25 metres along every road, street, terrace, close or whatever. Please don’t invade NZ, thanks.
    So sorry to hear your story Golem Heart. That must be a never-healing wound.

     
     

    “btw, don’t forget he had iced tea on him. motherfucking iced tea.”

    Ice T is, of course, the author of the song “Cop Killer.” And if you think that connection is too tenuous to condemn Trayvon to death, witness the dots-connecting powers of the Fox News commentariat, again courtesy of Little Green Footballs via Digby:

    “Skittles actually has a couple slang meanings. Could be referring to recreational usage of Coricidin. Also refers to a male getting lipstick marks from young ladies on the member. Taste the rainbow..”

    “Skittles is actually slang for recreational usage of Coricidin.”

    Which is why he was carrying those actual Skittles, yo.

     
     

    “So sorry to hear your story Golem Heart. That must be a never-healing wound.”

    I’ll be fine, but the children are forever scarred. But nevermind that, gun culture is awesome and righteous! Woo hoo, we are the greatest society ever.

    Goddamnit, now I am half drunk and still only half done practicing. Took a long call from my wife, who’s in New Orleans. She toured the lower ninth ward today with some community activists and went to the African-American History Museum (or some such). Business trip.

    She was like, have you heard of Drapetomania? I said yes, unfortunately:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania

     
     

    Those comments are truly horrible. Time for loud obnoxious rock.

     
     

    Not verified but it seems that George Zimmerman uttered “fucking c**ns” under his breath during the 911 call leading up to Trayvon Martin’s death.

     
     

    Golem Heart said,
    March 21, 2012 at 3:49

    Wow.

    Fucking Florida. America’s wang.

    When that l;aw went into effect I remember thinking, “What could possibly go wrong?”

    Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu……………….

    Perhaps, from time to time, we as a society need a place to serve as an object lesson. A place to devolve all the way, deep into Lord of the Flies meets Deadwood territory, that we might learn again why humans first started to come together around the campfire and build community. Perhaps this is that time, and Florida is that place.

    Or… we could just be totally fucked.

     
     

    Breaking my pledge not to get into this, but having mentioned the kids being forever scarred, here’s the thing:

    You have a hard-luck couple living in a literal two-room shack. Wife shoots her husband to death with a shotgun while he lies sleeping in the AM. Kids are in the other room, which is to say, 5-10 feet away. Wife says she was abused by the husband. Now, that’s plausible, if unproven. It’s the “Burning Bed” defense. And he was a very dangerous man. And she killed him with one of his own guns. He abhorred my views. But what did the kids do to deserve such an experience? That’s America for you.

     
     

    It’s ugly out there and apparently, it’s going to get worse:

    “Serial killers are often charming, but have a high opinion of themselves that is not shared by the wider world. They are often extremely conscious of class and status and they develop venomous feelings toward people who do not pay them sufficient respect.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/opinion/brooks-when-the-good-do-bad.html

     
     

    Wow, the fact that someone is defending that clown in Sanford and its racist, justice-obstructing police department is nauseating. But what I really want to know is, does McLaughlin know that Mr. Rage-Monkey Wannabe Citizens Patrolleroberstfuehrer is one of those, you know, Messicans?

     
     

    Also, too, cleanup in the newspaper aisle: Bobo shat out another one. (Somebody hand him some Imodium, discreetly under the Applebee’s stall.)

     
     

    Aw, hell, paperbagmarlys, I fugged up. Please accept my humble apologies.

     
     

    “Serial killers are often charming, but have a high opinion of themselves that is not shared by the wider world. They are often extremely conscious of class and status and they develop venomous feelings toward people who do not pay them sufficient respect.”

    Brooks is of course full of crap and is exerting his usual care to remain as uninformed as possible so as to have his opinionation unimpeded by facts. Apparently mass murders are all the fault of liberalism and its optimism about human potential, and they will cease once we return to the good old days when there were mechanisms to keep people undeveloped and in their place because they were known to be evil by nature.

     
     

    Holy gangrenous fuck.

    I know Bobo is a detestable wad of something the industrial meat industry wouldn’t even ammoniate and feed to children, but I figured an apologia for mass murder might even be too low for him.

    Guess I was wrong.

    Bonus points:

    People who commit massacres, for example, often live with what the researchers call “forward panic.”

    Oh. You mean the basic cultivated mindset of right wing indoctrination?

    Imma go with “totally fucked” after all.

    Why is this man employed?

     
     

    Fox News’ avoidance of George Zimmerman (the liberal media’s new Willie Horton to help re-elect the Negro Obama) is fair and balanced by their being the only news group helping us to hype Fast and Furious. to spend two years covering the Natalie Holloway story.

    And then, in a final ironic twist, a white guy did it.

     
     

    Thread Bear said,

    March 20, 2012 at 23:03

    No that’s the secret to shooting people period.

    But if they find you standing over the body of a white person with a smoking gun and covered with the white persons blood you’re going to jail. Even without witnesses. Apparently, not so much if you’re standing over the body of a black person.

    Like this guy.

    I guess his mistake was a) running from the police instead of proudly announcing his affiliation with a made-up neighborhood watch, b) tearfully telling the cops “I made a mistake, I didn’t mean to fire the gun” instead of claiming it was self-defense, and c) being Blackity Black Black.

     
     

    Human psychology is funny. The more delusional you are in your lies, the more other people believe them.

    Has anyone else noticed that in the criminal justice system, showing remorse and taking responsibility actually earns you MORE punishment than lying and obstructing justice?

    Authoritarianism–WINNING since, well, practically forever!

     
     

    That the police department has not arrested his murderer yet and and views the whole thing as an embarrassing mix up makes me want to riot. I hope the local police shape up and charge the shooter and throw the book at him,

    Sanford police department. Forget it.

    or if they don’t, that the feds take over, throw the book at the shooter, and throw the book at the entire police department for whatever they can- up to and including being an accessory to murder.

    Yes, yes, please put some crooked coppers in prison for obstruction of justice. I know it takes five years at least but please, pleeeeease make this happen.

    It would be nice if they would discover some corruption in the course of the investigation and some pols go down too. Please ElijahSt.NicolasSantaToothFairy. I promise to be extra good this year.

     
     

    Returning to McLaughlin’s claim that the flurry around Trayvon’s murder benefits liberals: any such benefit can be quickly stemmed. Bring some charges against the dude and arrest him. Easy peasy. Or cons can stand their ground on this one and bitch about how it’ll help Obama win in 2012.

    As the recent War on Women has showed us, the “Obama planned this to win re-election” theory is the default rationale.

     
    Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!
     

    In centuries past most people would have been less shocked by the homicidal eruptions of formerly good men. That’s because people in those centuries grew up with a worldview that put sinfulness at the center of the human personality.

    See, it’s just like the Vatican said about priests molesting children—- it’s all the permissive Sixties fault.

    Bad Sixties!

     
     

    Uh oh. Tagfail. Let me try a couple of closing….

     
     

    In centuries past most people would have been less shocked by the homicidal eruptions of formerly good men.

    1. A second’s thought about this sweeping claim and it crashes and burns, contradicted by the transcript of the trial of Gilles de Rais. It is almost as if Brooks doesn’t actually care about attitudes about evil in previous centuries, preferring to treat them as a tabula rasa.

    2. The “formerly” in that sentence does all the hard work in Brooks’ article. The possibility that a mass murderer had a nasty streak all along — despite the avowals of his friends and family — does not give him anything to work with, so he postulates that the murderer was previously saintly, but understandably prefers to keep that postulate hidden rather than leave it out in the open air where people might mock at him.

    3. Despite his self-image as a populariser of psychology, he doesn’t seem to have heard of Milgrim or Zimbardo either.

     
     

    In centuries past most people would have been less shocked by the homicidal eruptions of formerly good men.
    Well that’s seven kinds of hooey, innit. Or did people have a more casual attitude towards their sons being killed on the way back from the corner store in The Good Old Days &#174

     
     

    Shorter BoBo: “Remember, a murder is only an extroverted suicide.”

     
    Karl The Crap Blog Detective
     

    How anyone can say ‘what’s the big deal?’ with this tragedy is utterly incomprehensible to me.

    It’s a conservative. It will say whatever’s in the script, no more, no less.

     
     

    Numerous cases have set the precedent in Florida, with the courts arguing that the law “does not require defendant to prove self-defense to any standard measuring assurance of truth, exigency, near certainty, or even mere probability; defendant’s only burden is to offer facts from which his resort to force could have been reasonable.” When a defendant claims self-defense, “the State has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense.”

    So, basically, in Florida it’s always best to shoot somebody first, eh? If Martin had only been a terrified wingnut with a gun, he could be the one still breathing and claiming self-defense from Zimmerman. I mean, we see that Zimmerman certainly meant him harm.

    There’s absolutely no way around the conclusion that this law is written and enforced entirely to the benefit of a certain subset of the general society–those afflicted with paranoia and insecurity, obsession with firearms, and the support of the dominant culture.

    If the good citizens of Florida pretend that the law is not meant to be discriminating, then they need to explain why they support a law that encourages armed conflict and homicide, because it sure seems that the law rewards the aggressor.

     
     

    I did close the tag, honest.

     
     

    In ye olden days, people would have been less shocked by a newspaper columnist spouting utter drivel, since most people were illiterate, and most writers were on drugs.

     
     

    It’s a long shot.

     
     

    Is it racist if I note that teh thread has gone all italics?

     
     

    Thread Bear… But if they find you standing over the body of a white person with a smoking gun and covered with the white persons blood you’re going to jail. Even without witnesses. Apparently, not so much if you’re standing over the body of a black person.

    Someday, I hope to be able to reply “Bullshit!” to this. Sadly, today is not that day.

     
     

    It wasn’t me! Pryme did it – I wasn’t even here!

     
     

    PRYYYYYYME!

     
     

    Back from exile.

    I blame Hiltre for the italics.

     
     

    we are not bonobos

     
     

    Is it racist if I note that teh thread has gone all italics?

    nah, because we are all italicized Americans, we are all of us, Sparticus.
    .

     
     

    Back from exile.

    Welcome back! A julip, I presume?
    .

     
     

    Goddammit, who broke the Internet?!

     
     

    The italics are NOT MINE!

     
     

    Absolutely, my friend! I have a newly-tailored white linen suit and marvelous light beige hat to keep the sun off my bald head. Also an ivory-handled fly swatter, such as Sidney Greenstreet might have carried in an imaginary film. See you on the lounge deck, Provider. I’m buying, of course.

     
     

    In the name of Lowrek, Prince of Elves, italics begone!

     
     

    Crap. Well, that didn’t work in the movie either.

     
     

    Recent Netflix DVD’s (*)=seen before in theater.

    Shawshank Redemption (*)
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    Heaven’s Gate [see note]
    The Mouse That Roared
    Sin City
    3:10 to Yuma
    LA Confidential (*)
    Brazil

    Note: After reading ‘Final Cut’, I had to see if ‘Heaven’s Gate ‘was as thoroughly awful as I imagined. It was. This film should be shown and discussed in every film school; it is screwed up in almost every dimension that a film can be screwed up. Anyone with a serious interest in film should read ‘Final Cut’…then see ‘Heaven’s Gate.’]

    Next in my queue:

    Casino Royale
    The Wild Bunch
    Aliens (*)
    No Country for Old Men
    In Bruges
    The Getaway
    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    The Man Who Would Be King (*)

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Which Casino Royale would that be? The David Niven Or the Daniel Craig?

     
    Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!
     

    Rarely is the question asked, “Is Robert Bales a Christian?”

    Rarely is the question asked, “Is George Zimmerman a Christian?”

     
     

    Goddammit, who broke the Internet?!

    I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me. You can’t prove a thing.

     
     

    Daniel Craig. Haven’t seen his version of Bond. As I understand it, he takes the character in an entirely new direction. Also good reviews.

    (I’m also a huge fan of David Niven, btw, especially in ‘Guns of Navarone’)

    ——-

    I threw in the off-topic movie stuff, because the on-topic stuff infuriates me. This country is s-o-o fucked up. If I could escape, I would.

    I will escape soon enough, though. Death comes for us all; I turned 63 last week. So I hope to miss the worst of the dystopia that is thundering toward us like a runaway freight train. But I hurt for my nieces and nephews and their toddlers.

    Didn’t mean this comment to end up so morbid, but we live in morbid times.

     
     

    I really like Daniel Craig as Bond. I think he’s closest to how Bond was originally written.

     
     

    the children are forever scarred

    Golem: The whole story is so sad … but this is heart-breaking. May their wounds heal, even though scars remain.

     
     

    Serial killers are often charming, but have a high opinion of themselves that is not shared by the wider world.

    That describes Jonah Goldberg, except for the “charming” part.

     
     

    Maybe I should move to Florida and open a live-action version of Westworld where tourists can shoot it out with the locals.

     
     

    OT – In case any of you were wondering about LEAFS SUCK’s ongoing transit drama, the next installment is playing right now.

    In a surprise twist, the right-wing of LEAFS SUCK Council hates LRT’s so much and is so caught up with Teh War On Cars that they have just proposed new revenue tools to pay for a subway. No joke – our conservatives are essentially calling for increased taxes to pay for transit.

    It’s a bit moar complicated than it sounds – and they are proposing a horribly bad deal. Anyways, it’s interesting times for sure, or at least as interesting as City Council meetings can get.

     
     

    See you on the lounge deck, Provider. I’m buying, of course.

    Why thanks friend, but I insist that the first one is on me.

    Maybe I should move to Florida and open a live-action version of Westworld where tourists can shoot it out with the locals.

    Great idea. And your up front costs should be a pittance ’cause the state has already done the heavy lifting for you. All you really need to do is put a gun store just outside every airport. I am sure someone will front you the guns and money, Florida having taken the Lawyers and cops out of the equation.

    .

     
     

    In a surprise twist, the right-wing of LEAFS SUCK Council hates LRT’s so much and is so caught up with Teh War On Cars that they have just proposed new revenue tools to pay for a subway. No joke – our conservatives are essentially calling for increased taxes to pay for transit.

    Years ago, I wrote an essay called “The Death Penalty for Moving Violations” in which I proposed having traffic-enforcement snipers posted at major intersections in Manhattan. Run a red light? Bullet through the windshield. As I went on to explain, few actual killings would be required, as drivers would learn the lesson and follow the rules.

    It seems to me this proposal addresses both your interesting comment and the general topic, and is thus doubly on target*.

    *Heh.

     
     

    You can buy Skittles in some of our subway stations!

     
     

    Years ago, I wrote an essay called “The Death Penalty for Moving Violations” in which I proposed having traffic-enforcement snipers posted at major intersections in Manhattan. Run a red light? Bullet through the windshield.

    Oh right, make a BIGGER traffic jam. The bad drivers should be followed home and beaten to death in front of their families.

     
     

    Oh right, make a BIGGER traffic jam.

    Did you think the other drivers were going to learn a lesson from a killing? They would learn from the resulting gridlock.

     
     

    It’s rule #1 that drivers do better when frustrated and confused. Mind you they could just be shot.

     
     

    I was kinda hoping that Rob Ford would suggest a hybrid system that would combine transit and cars. A subway system you park your SUV’s in. After all, we already got all this transit infrastructure for pedestrians, where are the subway trains for serving cars?! Where’s teh fairness?

     
     

    They should breed giant homing pigeons that would pick up your car and fly it places. You could transport the giant pigeons via rail to suburban destinations, people could drive there and have the pigeon attached and it would fly straight back home.

    And also they could carry the trains back, so win-win.

     
     

    That would never work, Sub. The pigeons would form a union and demand wages or bread crumbs. And don’t get me started on the PETA people…………………

     
     

    Well look, I’m pro-union. Is this the commie website or what?

    Pigeons that large would require a high-protein diet and that solves the problem of the PETA people.

     
     

    Giant homing pigeons sounds grate, but teh issue here in LEAFS SUCK is about achieving full grade separation by burying lines. So unless you’re talking about subterranean giant homing pigeons, it is a non-starter.

     
     

    Hmm. Are there homing ferrets?

     
     

    That said, subterranean giant homing pigeons would be FUCKING AWESOME!

     
     

    achieving full grade separation by burying lines.

    You only give cocaine to kids after they get to high school. Got it.

     
     

    Hmm. Are there homing ferrets?

    BADGERS.

     
     

    Moles, homing moles then.

     
     

    Hmm. Are there homing ferrets?

    Not sure, but if you apply a stripe of ferretmones to the tarmac, they might follow that home.

    How many teams of ferrets, and how many ferrets in a team, would be required to haul a load?
    .

     
     

    How much fur could a ferret fuck if a ferret could fuck fur?

     
     

    Wheee hooo, one of our moar right-wing councillors just laid into one of our left-wing councillors of not being sufficiently pro-tax.

    Anyways, grilling the expert panel is done – some speechifying before teh motions and we’ll have managed to eturn to the pre-Rob Ford transit plan in totality.

     
     

    grilling the expert panel is done

    Once the charcoal is going, it’s just a matter of minutes.

     
     

    Moles, homing moles then.

    Well wait a minute, if you bury your lines deep enough you get to Pellucidar and you get flying dinosaurs.

     
     

    Oh god we overlooked the obvious! Here is a chance for peace and co-operation between the Molemen and the topsiders! A new age awaits us fellow citizens

     
    Marion in Savannah
     

    The bad drivers should be followed home and beaten to death in front of their families.

    Oh, Jeez… The population of Savannah would decrease by at least 60%.

     
     

    How much fur could a ferret fuck if a ferret could fuck fur?

    As I was refreshing the tab, I wondered what version of this gag I was gonna see, cuase i started thinking about one of my own, but realized that someone would beat me to the punch. Well played.
    .

     
     

    C’mon, guys, let’s not get unrealistic. Ferrets are illegal in some places.

     
     

    During the last World Cup i came up with an idea the we should all carry around Yellow and Red Cards and present them to people who were behaving badly. Approach the offender, present the card (held high so everyone can see) then write down the name of the offender on the back of the card.

    I was the architect of a new years party ushering in 1986 with a slogan “No Dicks in ’86.” We created a list of personae non grata, who would likely showed up. It was very enjoyable turning some of these people away at the door. “but why can’t I come in?” And we would read to them something dickish they had done in the last year, point to the sign and shut the door. Actually made for a fantastic party. Some of the craftier weasels (only 2, the others got the message) needed to be escorted out after it was discovered that they had slipped in.

    Anyhoo…
    .

     
     

    Moral of story? Crafty dicks are always slipping in escorts.

     
     

    They just pay me to be the setup man here….
    😉
    .

     
     

    Pellucidar is an excellent goal because: fur bikinis, sabre toothed tigers and wooly mammoths, all GOOD THINGS.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    Pellucidar is an excellent goal because: fur bikinis, sabre toothed tigers and wooly mammoths, all GOOD THINGS.

    If this were the Democratic Party platform this year, they would be unstoppable at the polls.

     
     

    I still kind of think you could strap a car to a giant pigeon’s back and have it crouch through the tunnels. I mean, it’s efficient, especially once you’ve bred all those pigeons.

     
     

    Related:

    Former NRA president and chief Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer went on Democracy Now to defend the legislation. Hammer boasted that she would debate Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence executive director Arthur Mayhoe again in 10 years after his concerns about the “Stand Your Ground” legislation were proven false.

    HAMMER: Mr. Hayhoe, let’s do this again in ten years where you will be proven wrong again, just as you are now proven wrong, when you said the same kinds of things when right to carry passed in 1987. It is nothing but emotional hysterics.

    Yeah, I’m thinking that debate might not be such a grand wizard idea.

     
     

    That said, subterranean giant homing pigeons would be FUCKING AWESOME!

    How about a monkey in a bacon tuxedo?

     
     

    Also,

    Vag

     
     

    Assholes get all the pussies.

     
     

    OBS, I get fecking sick of the Bono imposters all over the place, begorrah.

     
     

    I would totally commute on a giant pigeon.

    OBS – be careful in the snow, nobody out here knows how to drive in it.

     
     

    Here’s some good news, linked to via angryblacklady.com— a doctor proposes civil disobedience in response to the forced ultrasound bills:

    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/03/20/guest-post-a-doctor-on-transvaginal-ultrasounds/

     
     

    heh

    commuting on the giant pigeon.

     
     

    OBS – be careful in the snow, nobody out here knows how to drive in it.

    Yeah, not like Corvallis drivers are any good when it’s dry, but dear FSM people, a little snow doesn’t mean complete fucking anarchy!

    And for all you non-Oregonians — it’s snowing, hard. On the second day of spring. That is quite uncommon around here, not completely unheard of, but definitely unexpected. Algore sure is fat.

    On the plus side, allergy season hasn’t started yet. So far we’re six weeks further into the year vs. when I had to start taking my meds last year. Hopefully the snow will help hold it back a little further.

     
     

    Oceania has always been at war with Moleasia.

     
     

    We just got hail and sunshine at once. It was fun.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    But here in greater cheeselandia, today we set a record high temperature, and we have done so on 8 of the last 9 days. Al Gore is looking skinnier.

     
     

    If this were the Democratic Party platform this year, they would be unstoppable at the polls.

    The world is so ready for Frazetta political posters.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    The world is so ready for Frazetta political posters.

    If we got candidates that could look good in the average Frazetta model’s wardrobe, I would proudly buy a van and get a Frazetta style campaign poster airbrushed on the side.

     
     

    So unless you’re talking about subterranean giant homing pigeons

    Budgies. In the sewers.

     
     

    And not related, but teh funnay.

    That was a prick who was on the Matthews Show or somesuch circa 03-04 tlaking about how much he supported the wars, he was in his early twenties at the time. mathews asked him why he had not enlisted and the dud with straight face said that he needed to stay home to help fight the culture war on the home front.

    As bullshit as Pantload’s excuse was, old fat and out of shape did at least have a family.

    Materra loves to jump people.

    During an appearance on Sean Hannity’s radio program yesterday, which includes a brief snippet of the Mattera interview with “Bono,” Hannity and Mattera touted “bad boy reporter” Mattera’s impressive ambush interview skills. Asked by Hannity how he managed to get an interview with “Bono,” Mattera replied that it was “basic shoeleather journalism.”

    Ha!
    .

     
     

    El Manquécito said,
    Pellucidar is an excellent goal because: fur bikinis, sabre toothed tigers and wooly mammoths

    I am too ascared to look up “woolly mammoth” in Urban Dictionary.

     
     

    Don’t be afeared! It’s a large hat.

     
     

    Smut is unaware of the Wooly Manmoth Prophecies.

     
     

    As I went on to explain, few actual killings would be required, as drivers would learn the lesson and follow the rules.

    Or would throw the rules book out, since there’s no doubt the snipers would start shooting for shits and giggles.

    Probably wing a few pedestrians while they were at it.

     
     

    since there’s no doubt the snipers would start shooting for shits and giggles.

    There was nothing in N__B’s proposal about contracting Blackwater to do the job.

     
     

    Here’s some good news, linked to via angryblacklady.com— a doctor proposes civil disobedience in response to the forced ultrasound bills:

    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/03/20/guest-post-a-doctor-on-transvaginal-ultrasounds/

    Wiley, that was fucking awesome, thanks for sharing. Dude was spot on. I reminds me of how many times and on how many different issues we seem to let them set the terms of debate. But we don’t have any access at all to the corporate media, so we end up two streps behind trying to explain why so much of this shit is patently foolish.

    Also, too, there really is no point in even making an attempt if you are going to hae to give a 6 month seminar about the fundimentals of a subject before the party in question can even begin to understand the subject or issued involved.
    .

     
     

    But here in greater cheeselandia, today we set a record high temperature, and we have done so on 8 of the last 9 days.

    It was something like 85 in Ohio yesterday. I’ve never seen it that hot in March.

     
     

    …That’s not a hat…

    Thanks for that link.

    Yeah, it would nice if the knitted, um, goods looked like they had some slightly useful function, say, toilet paper covers, or toaster covers, or even hats. It would be sweet to see one of beloved GOP congressmen wearing a VJ hat or using it for a toaster cover.

    http://www.governmentfreevjj.com/

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Nuttin but rain here but I can’t see the top of the hill so uit could be snowing up there, Whatshername on OPB just said Eugene got 2 or 4 inches?!? Dang! Santiam Pass closed!

     
     

    No snow in Baltimore this year (except trace amounts). Butterflies fluttering in early March. Second-earliest peak for DC’s cherry blossoms.

    Climate change, what is it?

     
     

    Asked by Hannity how he managed to get an interview with “Bono,” Mattera replied that it was “basic shoeleather journalism.”

    Basic shoeleather journalism… I’ll bet he can still taste the shoeleather.

     
     

    Maybe I should move to Florida and open a live-action version of Westworld where tourists can shoot it out with the locals.

    The GOP convention is in Tampa this year- considering that the GOP is waging a war on women, would a woman be justified in machine-gunning all the attendees because she felt threatened?

     
     

    Even my libertarian gun carrying cousin in Florida is it calling murder.

     
    Pupienus Maximus
     

    Whoa! http://www.kgw.com/news/Deep-snow–slide-closes-Santiam-Pass-143681706.html

    And I heard wrong. Eugene got 6 inches. Of snow.. The city, Eugene. OH GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK

     
     

    LEAFS SUCK Update. They aren’t going to vote today. The right-wing are filibustering and the special meeting session is due to closein fifteen minutes. Word is that it will continue tomorrow.

    Note that this special meeting was called for Rob Ford, to give him an opportunity to present a case for a Sheppard subway. And now he’s running the clock because they’ve got nothing.

     
     

    So DKW, do you think the subway is a good idea?

    As I recall from the last time I was in Leafs Suck, there are only two subway lines currently – a N-S line along Yonge Street and an E-W line along Queen Street?

     
     

    The Queen line was originally planned, but never built – Queen Street is now teh home of teh longest streetcar route in teh world. The big E-W subway line is Bloor-Danforth.

    I love subways. As a youth, I used to take intentionally roundabout routes just to ride the subway longer. Subways are amazing. And LEAFS SUCK is a fairly large city with areas of pretty solid density that fully warrants subways.

    But that’s not the case here. We’re talkiong about routes not in teh city centre but amongst teh “inner burbs”. Specifically, tonight was about Scarborough and teh previous fight was about teh portion of teh Eglinton Crosstown that runs through Scarborough. Western Scarborough. Incidentally, where I live.

    The density and traffic load here doesn’t warrant full grade separation. Also we’re dealing with a fixed pot of capital monies (mostly) from teh province. So instead of just getting a buried Eglinton line – we’re getting four different lines with spearate at grade rights of way and many more kilometres of track. And instead of 2 km stop spacing, it’s closer to half a mile. And, well there’s a ton of other odds and sods too. Not that teh Transit City plan was perfect, but teh Rob Ford proposed alternative is basically a plan to build as little transit as possible.

     
     

    Meeting reconvenes tomorrow morning at 9:30. Rob Ford has said one thing all day – he moved that instead of tomorrow, they postpone until April 4. That motion failed immediately. Not a good sign for Team Ford.

     
     

    There’s a lot of history behind what’s going on in the LEAFS SUCK transit file. Partly to do with the historical TTC and their stubborn pig-headedness. Old TTC management was pretty horrible. New TTC management, still sucks pretty severly, but in the decades that have passed, the overwhelming evidence and global acceptance of light rail has forced them to acknowledge facts.

    Traffic densities in Scarborough don’t justify subway – by a factor of four or five or more. Scarborough is very much a car community – people drive everywhere. Would some of them be lured out of their cars by a subway? Maybe, but I doubt that it would be enough to make up the difference.

    There’s a lot of baggage associated with Scarborough too. It’s the neglected child of LEAFS SUCK. So there’s a whole “Scarborough getting the shaft again” sentiment going on.

    It really is pretty complicated. Stop spacing and underground stations are an issue as well. The question of accessibility is a big one. Having to walk more than a quarter mile to get to a station is actually pleasant downtown, but in Scarborough with seven lane arterial roads flanked by giant parking lots – not so much.

    And the whole notion of nodal transit hasn’t panned out. twenty years ago, they made some projections for Scarborough Centre and North York Centre as part of transit planning. Actual growth has been about an order of magnitude lower than projected. And that’s not without strenuous effort to push those “new downtowns”.

    So yeah, kinda complicated about the actual mode of transit. But this fight isn’t even about that. It’s about the idea of dedicating traffic lanes to transit. It’s about the War on Cars. It’s about this insane notion that more transit somehow slows traffic.

     
     

    I’ll bet he can still taste the shoeleather.

    giggled i did

     
     

    You liberals and your trains.

     
    The Ghost of Andrew Breitbart
     

    Tom Hanks. A racist. Who’d a thunk it?

     
     

    You liberals and your trains.

    I mean really, just stick a couple more lanes on the QEW and problem solved!

     
     

    Hey, the new JanusNode has Socratic Dialogues.

    EUTHYPHRO: To be sure.

    SOCRATES: Then now we have made a quick end of this question: if virtue is of such a nature, it will be taught; and if not, not?

    LACHES: Why, Socrates, what else can a man say?

    SOCRATES: Either together or in succession?

    ANYTUS: Certainly.

    SOCRATES: And now, as Pindar says, ‘read my meaning:’–colour is an effluence of form, commensurate with sight, and palpable to sense.

    CALLICLES: Yes, I remember.

    SOCRATES: And is not the part of a falsehood also a falsehood?

    HERMOGENES: True.

    SOCRATES: Then they must be distinguished?

    MENO: That, I think, is true.

    SOCRATES: And if pleasantly, then also happily?

    EUTHYPHRO: True.

    SOCRATES: Yes.

    THEODORUS: Certainly.

    POLUS: Yes.

    SOCRATES: And it must have no parts.

    ANYTUS: Yes.

    SOCRATES: Then the weaver will use the shuttle well–and well means like a weaver? And the teacher will use the name well–and well means like a teacher?

    MELESIAS: That is true.

    SOCRATES: You would argue, as I should, that when one art is of one kind of knowledge and another of another, they are different?

    THEAETETUS: Clearly.

    SOCRATES: And, in your opinion, do those who think that they will do them good know that they are evils?

    MELESIAS: Certainly.

    SOCRATES: Nor is every one qualified to attend to dogs, but only the huntsman?

    MELESIAS: I do not understand.

    SOCRATES: And does not gymnastic also treat of discourse concerning the good or evil condition of the body?

    ANYTUS: Yes.

    SOCRATES: Of such as are mere negatives I hardly think that I need speak.

    PHAEDRUS: That may be expected.

    SOCRATES: And therefore persuade us of them?

    TIMAEUS: That was also said.

    SOCRATES: Again, in speaking of all (in the plural) is there not one thing which we express?

    NICIAS: Yes.

    SOCRATES: There are some who desire evil?

    THEAETETUS: What are they?

    SOCRATES: The next question is, whether virtue is knowledge or of another species?

    PHAEDRUS: No, that is not likely.

    SOCRATES: But then again, what was the observation which you just now made, about doing and suffering wrong? Did you not say, that suffering wrong was more evil, and doing wrong more disgraceful?

    NICIAS: True.

    SOCRATES: I should suppose that the art of horsemanship is the art of attending to horses?

    CRATYLUS: No; there I do not agree with you.

    SOCRATES: And are they not better pleased at the enemy’s departure?

    MELESIAS: I do not understand.

    SOCRATES: And the one which had pleasure in view was just a vulgar flattery:–was not that another of our conclusions?

    EUTHYPHRO: So I should suppose.

    SOCRATES: I cannot say that either of you show any reluctance to take counsel and advise with me.

    PHAEDRUS: Yes.

     
     

    Maybe I should move to Florida and open a live-action version of Westworld where tourists can shoot it out with the locals.

    Getting back to the topic (what a concept!), I can’t help but wonder why the hell Florida, a state which depends on tourism for its economic viability, would allow a “gun ’em down in the streets” law. Maybe pressure on Disney (“Is Disney World safe, or will my kids be gunned down?”) is the best way to get the legislature to reconsider this law.

     
     

    In other Leafs Suck news, I recently read that Cheney chickenhawked out on a speaking visit to LS ’cause the meanie liberals were going to yell at him.

    Poor lil’ guy.

     
     

    “subterranean giant homing pigeons” is one of my favorite Dylan tunes

     
     

    It was something like 85 in Ohio yesterday. I’ve never seen it that hot in March.

    It’s been above 80 all week in Chicago. Part of me loves it, part is creeped out.

     
     

    It’s been above 80 all week in Chicago. Part of me loves it, part is creeped out.

    I love it now: it’s by far the most pleasant month of March I’ve ever had in DC.

    However, if it’s this nice and warm in March, July’s going to friggin KILL ME…

     
     

    However, if it’s this nice and warm in March, July’s going to friggin KILL ME…

    That’s what creeping me out.

     
     

    Oceania has always been at war with Moleasia

    I know it means little from a non-regular, but holy crap that’s a gem! Unexpected, but inevitable in retrospect…

    Now I have to update my All-One(or maybe a few)-Guy(s) theory again and upgrade N__B to GavinM.

    Also, too, Substance, the Socraticnode practically writes Beckett. Thanks for sharing!

     
     

    Unexpected, but inevitable in retrospect…

    That’s what Mrs__B sai…

    I mean, “Thank You.”

     
     

    I can’t help but wonder why the hell Florida, a state which depends on tourism for its economic viability, would allow a “gun ‘em down in the streets” law.

    Seriously. Europeans stopped vacationing in Florida about ten years ago because so many had been killed.

    Florida cops should be lobbying the legislature to overturn that law and should make a point of not behaving in an overtly threatening manner when it’s inappropriate. If police aren’t going to arrest people for murder then what the fuck good are they? They are in danger of generating rage and grievance that just doesn’t give a shit anymore.

     
     

    The state of Florida is infringing my religious freedom by not prosecuting murderers.

     
     

    Yeah, it would nice if the knitted, um, goods looked like they had some slightly useful function, say, toilet paper covers, or toaster covers, or even hats. It would be sweet to see one of beloved GOP congressmen wearing a VJ hat or using it for a toaster cover.

    Well, one of them does. To find out, you should go to the Snatchel Page.

     
     

    If police aren’t going to arrest people for murder then what the fuck good are they?

    I’ll take “Keeping the Downtrodden Trodden Down and the Darkies in Their Place” for $1000, Alex.

     
     

    Confessing the bringer of light.
    Impressing the greenland shark.
    Nesting the composition.
    Grinning the thresher shark.
    Increasing the yak.
    Folding the wonder.
    Retiring the soul.
    Stroking the rat.
    Yawning the bobcat.
    Protesting the kudu.
    Winning the balance.
    Singing the giant termite soldier.
    Affording the dorab.
    Digesting the leopard danio.
    Congesting the lurking wraith.
    Ringing the giant bass.
    Noting the marine leviathan.
    Beginning the faithful hound.

     
     

    Increasing the yak.

    Sounds dangerous…

     
     

    Apologies if someone has already said this, but the wingnut argument that’s going to be advanced is that moar guns will solve this “problem” with people (even blah people) getting gunned down for nuthin. See, if Martin had been packing, he could have defended himself against Zimmerman. I know…it makes no sense, but that’s how wingnuts “think”.

     
     

    I always wanted to be a water treatment operator. I might get my chance!
    .

     
    Privatize The Profits! Socialize The Costs!
     

    DKW, what a surprise to find out that you are a LEAFS SUCK-er!

    Although presently wintering in Spain, I am a former LEAFS SUCK-er who is now a NOTLer….

    NOTL is God’s Country, son… (Well I guess for us non-God-fans it’s “FSM’s Country”… )

    But of course we are all Sabres fans down here in the deep south…

     
     

    Thank you, Hogeye Grex.

    Our knitting needles, our snatchals!

    If only it was so simple…

    “You now have a vulva attached to your sex organs, so it’s time to add a clit. Lay the Snatchel flat. Look at the vulva end and decide which side you want to be “this way up.” Using matching or invisible regular thread or elastic thread, attach the bead you chose just above where the Labia Minora are joined to the Labia Majora. It should be nestle in the right- or left-hand crease when the Snatchel is laid flat. If you are feeling industrious, you might want to crochet a little hood for it. My Snatchel has a relatively large clit and is in a constant state of arousal, so I didn’t add a hood (it’s pulled back, hiding, as it likes to do when a woman gets turned on).”

     
     

    I always wanted to be a water treatment operator. I might get my chance!

    Woot!

    …a state which depends on tourism for its economic viability, would allow a “chase ’em down and gun ‘em down in the streets” law.

    fxd for topicality.

    And coupled with this new and intersting weather we are having….I think we’ll see what the mining of pensions looks like. lots of gold in them thar hills. White hair, green gold…something something, sung to the tune of the beverly hillbills.
    .

     
     

    I hear BBKF is giving away cookies. ROADTRIP!

     
     

    Noting the marine leviathan.

    What, again?

     
     

    It means getting in the hit tub with your iPad.

     
     

    If they were chocolate skittles, then it was totally justified.

     
     

    “[A] few obscure local ads even mentioned one particular graphic crime, committed by an inmate named Willie Horton”

    “[M]ake Willie Horton his running mate” — Lee Atwater

    So basically, by infraggerating the significance of Willie Horton in the 1988 election, he is acknowledging his bad faith.

     
     

    Hmm. Are there homing ferrets?

    BADGERS.

    Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers.

     
    Helmut Monotreme
     

    N_B did you read about those wooden skyscrapers on boing boing the other day? If so, do you have an opinion?

    http://boingboing.net/2012/03/20/wooden-skyscrapers-efficient.html

     
     

    hit tub

    So totally naming my next pop cover band this.

     
     

    N_B did you read about those wooden skyscrapers on boing boing the other day? If so, do you have an opinion?

    It’s even more whoring than usual when I respond with a link to myself, right? There’s a short discussion between Mr. McGravitas and myself: http://nedbeaumontjr.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/for-sale/

     
    Andrew Breitbart
     

    You libs think it’s hot where you are.

     
     

    I skimmed through some of the comments so if this has been said already, my apologies…

    Skittles Taste the Rambo!

    here in greater cheeselandia, today we set a record high temperature, and we have done so on 8 of the last 9 days. Al Gore is looking skinnier.

    You’ll have to learn to stand the heat, because this here kitchen is all we got.

     
     

    Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers.

    nicely dunn, fish

     
     

    Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers.

    Excuse me?

    You don’t want me all up in your Honey comb, just sayin’.
    .

     
     

    It’s even more whoring than usual when I respond with a link to myself, right?

    I thought it was one of the more appropriate blogwhore’s I have seen in a while, not to say that I have any problem with blogwhoring per se.
    .

     
     

    I’ve been commiting keyboard crimes all over the intertrons today. i blame sparky.
    .

     
     

    Last week, the lunch ladies took a field trip to a Surrealist Exhibit, kid. And today, we’re serving grilled cheese.

     
     

    Substance, i am looking for a superscrip ascii character that represents three-fifths, does such a beast exist.

    (I am currently surching myself, but have yet to stuble upon one)
    .

     
     

    “Maybe I should move to Florida and open a live-action version of Westworld where tourists can shoot it out with the locals.”

    From what I read, the whole state is already a live-action version of Westworld. Apparently, anyone can have a shooting range in his (or her) backyard, and is not obliged to make sure that the bullets stay in the back yard. They can, legally, exit the backyard and strike terror into the hearts of the neighbors, there children and their livestock and holes into their houses and outbuildings and it is entirely legal. The neighbors can be prosecuted for harassment if they complain. (http://flaglerlive.com/30651/local-gun-rules-florida)

    In other news, the sun is shining brightly in Corvallis, so maybe the slush will be gone soon.

     
     

    …anyone can have a shooting range in his (or her) backyard, and is not obliged to make sure that the bullets stay in the back yard…

    Burmese Pythons, and most other snakes, tend to stay fairly low to the ground. Forget Westworld, if there are any human survivors in Florida, toss in a few gators and the future of FL is going to look more like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qkTM6srkyY.

     
     

    So it turns out:

    – The dead man is 6’3 football player, on suspension from school
    – He is years older than the picture shown everywhere
    – He attacked and injured the shooter
    – which is why the police recognized this as self-defense

     
     

    I have spent a few hours mapping out the times and events that happened that day using Google Maps. Looking at the record and the times that things were alleged to have happened, there is no way that the media portrayal of this incident is correct.

    I suggest you do as I did and mark off where and when each event took place and then think about the timing of the calls. All of this info is widely available.

    Here are some interesting facts:
    – Trayvon ran away from Zimmerman and was lost to Zimmerman’s view for 5 whole minutes. Trayvon’s father’s condo was only 100 yards away, why didn’t he go and stay there?
    – Trayvon’s girlfriend talked to him for 4 minutes AFTER Zimmerman had already lost sight of Trayvon.
    – How did the heavyset Zimmerman ever catch up to the athletic Trayvon? Especially since Trayvon had a 5 minute head start (Zimmerman lost Trayvon for 5 minutes)
    – What does Trayvon’s stepbrother say about that night? He was at the condo and the two kids were supposed to watch the All Star game together. Did he hear the gun shot?
    – If Trayvon ran from Zimmerman for 5 minutes, how did he not cover the 100 yards to his house, and how did he end up only about 30 yards from where he ran past Zimmerman in the first place?

    I personally think Trayvon ran away and then came back. I cannot otherwise explain the fact that he did not run straight home, 100 yards away.

     
     

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